In the first quarter of 2021, Facebook Marketplace passed a significant milestone: the company reported that over one billion users worldwide used the platform monthly. Combine that with the overwhelming popularity of Facebook itself, and there’s no wonder why you might want to start selling your products through the Marketplace.

But what if you look beyond those general facts and figures? Is it actually worth your time and effort if you’re a beginning entrepreneur? After all, if you’ve just started your business, you probably have to juggle it with your studies or full-time job, and your resources are scarce.

So, should you outsource your homework to write my essay services to focus on selling your products on Facebook Marketplace? Or should you do the same to launch your product on other eCommerce platforms instead? Let’s investigate the pros and cons to answer these questions.

Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/QQhAQHWvTYk 

First, Let’s Examine the Pros

Even if you’re a die-hard skeptic, you can’t assert that Facebook Marketplace is all cons and no pros. So, let’s make the case for it first and list its three major benefits for beginning entrepreneurs.

Facebook’s Targeting Capabilities Are Unparalleled

This social network knows a lot about its users, and it can lay the ground for unprecedented growth for any business. Thanks to the website’s targeting capabilities, your listings can be boosted to reach the people who match your buyer persona to a T.

What makes this platform so powerful is the ability to target audiences based on their psychographics. That means that, apart from the age, location, and occupation, you can make your listings reach people based on their:

• Behavior (e.g., device usage or prior purchases);
• Connections (e.g., your page’s or event’s subscribers);
• Interests and hobbies (based on their engagement history).

Needless to say, platforms like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy can’t rival that. That’s because users don’t tell those companies what events they’re interested in or what issues they care about.

It’s All About Local Selling

When a user goes to the Marketplace, they see the listings right in their vicinity. Simply put, the platform aims to connect businesses and consumers locally. That’s why you should think of it as Craigslist meshed with the most popular social network in the world.

So, if you want to grow your local customer base, the Marketplace is perfect for that. But it’s not designed to help you reach global audiences. That’s because the network tries to stay at the forefront of the whole “local connections” trend in the social media world.

In other words, if you plan to ship your product throughout the country or internationally, you’ll be better off focusing on other eCommerce websites like Amazon and Etsy.

It’s Free to Get Started

It started as a 100% free-to-list selling platform, and it continues to be free today. That is, undoubtedly, a very tempting offer, considering other platforms’ fees:

• Amazon: Professional Selling Plan will cost your business $39.99 per month;
• eBay: first 250 listings per month are free, then $0.35 for a listing;
• Etsy: $0.20 per listing.

Furthermore, there are no transaction or selling fees that you have to pay to Facebook itself, unlike with all three of the websites above.

So, if you decide to sell something via Facebook Marketplace, you won’t have to spend any money to get started. It’s perfect for testing your market and seeing whether there’s demand for your products.

Now, Let’s Talk the Cons

Unfortunately, this platform isn’t without its flaws – and these flaws are significant red flags for some businesses. So, consider these four peculiarities when you make your decision.

Facebook Marketplace Has a Particular Reputation

If you ask an average user what they think the Marketplace is for, they’ll probably say “second-hand things”. And you can’t blame them: the Marketplace has an image problem so significant that the company decided to launch Facebook Shops for businesses to rectify the situation.

That said, if you sell rare items, like collectibles or antiques, you can easily find your target audience hanging out there. The same goes for handcrafted items like accessories and home décor.

Furthermore, the Marketplace has a scam problem, too. Since Facebook doesn’t provide any protection to the buyers, there are quite a few crooks that cheat people out of their money. That makes the platform seem untrustworthy to some.

You’re in Charge of Payment & Shipping

Facebook doesn’t want to take any responsibility for the seller-buyer interaction. They don’t even have a payment gateway built into the Marketplace! Shipping, like payment, is also 100% your responsibility as the seller.

When you’re a beginner in the business world, this can be either a blessing in disguise or a living nightmare. On the one hand, you don’t have to pay any additional fees for the intermediary services. On the other hand, you’ll have to do a lot of research to find the right provider for both services, which can be overwhelming – and distracting.

Branding Becomes Challenging

When a user goes to your listing, all they see is the layout and color scheme they’ve come to associate with Facebook. Your business’s brand identity is reduced to the account’s profile picture and any particular visual style you’ve added to the product’s images.

That means that it’s almost impossible to build a brand on Facebook without any external resources (your website with an online store, email newsletter, etc.). That’s because visuals are essential to the brand identity. And without that, it might be challenging to grow customer loyalty.

You Can’t Offer Services on the Marketplace

Finally, if your business revolves around providing services of any sort, Facebook Marketplace isn’t the right place to sell them. The thing is, the company’s Commerce Policies explicitly prohibit creating listings for services.

In other words, if you don’t have a physical product to sell (because you run an EdTech startup, for example), Facebook Marketplace doesn’t want you there. Besides that, creating listings to promote posts or pages is against the terms and conditions, too.

3 Tips for Making the Most Out of the Marketplace

If you decide to test it out, here are three quick tips for making your first listings as successful as possible:

1. Upload five to ten high-quality photos. Users have nothing but the photos to go on to make a purchase decision. So, they want to see the product in good lighting and from as many angles as possible.
2. Keep your description structured and detailed. Add all the specifications that might be important for customers (dimensions, color, etc.). Break the text into short paragraphs to make it more readable.
3. Make sure you comply with Facebook’s Commerce Policies. Along with all the typically illegal things, alcohol, tobacco, hazardous goods, animals, and healthcare products aren’t allowed.

Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/ra4vJwxnvAo

In Conclusion: Is It Worth It?

All in all, the answer is, “It depends”. Obviously, it’s not for every business out there. If one had to generalize, typically, the following products are more likely to sell well on this marketplace:

• Custom-made, on-demand items;
• Rare items, such as collectibles and antiques;
• Handcrafted items that you’d usually see on Etsy;
• Used items that are still in good shape;
• Products from your store that you’re ready to sell at a discount.

Plus, your business is more likely to thrive on this platform if it’s targeted at a local rather than a global audience.

That said, there’s no guarantee that if you fit the bill, Facebook Marketplace will be the right sales channel for your business. (Or that you won’t succeed there if your business doesn’t match the description, for that matter.) So, your safest bet is to test several of your products there and see whether the sales match your expectations.